US Olympic athletes

And things aren't likely to pick up, writes Bill Plaschke

(Newser) -
Sure, Americans just swept the podium in men's slopestyle skiing, but overall it's been a pretty dreary Olympics for US athletes. In fact, "the US team is getting the hind parts of its snow pants kicked," writes Bill Plaschke for the Los Angeles Times . Despite stellar...
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Norway, US predicted to come out on top in Sochi

(Newser) -
Though the opening ceremonies aren't until tomorrow, the 2014 Olympics officially kick off today in Sochi—and the Wall Street Journal is ready with its extremely complex medal prediction system, which proved to be accurate to within just a few medals at the last two Olympics. So who's...
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Tracy Barnes says Lanny would have beat her if she wasn't sick

(Newser) -
Tracy Barnes won a spot on the US Olympic biathlon team Sunday, but she's not taking it. She gave up her place so her twin sister, Lanny, could go instead. Lanny had been too sick to compete in all the selection races, but Tracy believes her sister had a...
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Mirai Nagasu bumped for Ashley Wagner, who finished 4th

(Newser) -
In an unprecedented snub, US Figure Skating has left the third place finisher at Saturday's US Figure Skating Championships off its Olympic roster—in favor of a fourth-place finisher who described her own performance as "embarrassing." Why? Because that fourth-place finisher was Ashley Wagner, winner of the...
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US gymnast has some fun with her Internet meme at White House

(Newser) -
Well played: When the US Olympic gymnastics team visited the White House this week, silver medalist McKayla Maroney showed she has a sense of humor about her own Internet meme, with help from President Obama. The two posed with McKayla's legendary "not impressed" look from the podium, notes...
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They say wrestlers were Norwegian, not American

(Newser) -
Call it the opposite of instant replay: Norway is trying to get the US to hand over gold medals that it won 108 years ago. Wrestlers Charles Ericksen and Bernhoff Hansen had just emigrated from Norway when they took gold for the US in the 1904 Olympics, and now sports...
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China's merely second, depending on how you count

(Newser) -
The country really winning the Olympics is ... North Korea? If you've been following the Games you know that China and the US have been neck-and-neck in the medals count (with the gold-medal advantage going to China), but in a blog post spotted by the Pacific Standard , politics professor Seth...
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But he gets the girl in the end

(Newser) -
If other presidents have gotten into hot water for macking on women they shouldn't, President Obama got jeered last night for failing to smooch his own first lady. The Obamas were watching the US men's basketball team play an exhibition game against Brazil in DC, when the never-so-clever...
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Designer Ralph Lauren announces switch for 2014

(Newser) -
The long, sartorial nightmare is nearly over. The US Olympic team will wear uniforms made in the US-of-A starting with the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, reports the AP . Ralph Lauren, who designs the team's outfits, announced the change yesterday. It's too late to change them this...
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Jeneba Tarmoh thinks 100-meter results should have been handled better

(Newser) -
Jeneba Tarmoh is heartbroken over the "dead heat" controversy that kept her from a spot on the Olympic 100-meter team , she tells the New York Times . Tarmoh felt cheated after being unofficially declared the third-place winner, then not learning that the result had been changed to a tie with...
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Harry Reid wants to burn them all

(Newser) -
News that the uniforms Team USA will wear at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics were made in China has united lawmakers from both parties for some made-in-the USA outrage. The athletes "represent the very best and they’re so excellent," Nancy Pelosi said. "And they...
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And they weren't even cheap

(Newser) -
The Team USA uniforms for this summer's London Olympics are quite patriotic, with one tiny exception: They were made in China. The red, white, and blue uniforms, designed by Ralph Lauren, will be worn by US athletes at the opening ceremony. ABC News was shocked to discover "Made...
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Lolo Jones is waiting until marriage

(Newser) -
HBO's Real Sports puts the focus on US track Olympian Lolo Jones tonight, and the teaser it released today is certainly doing the trick of drawing attention. In it, the 29-year-old explains that she intends to remain a virgin until marriage because it's a "gift I want...
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Ohno makes up for DQ with 8th medal

(Newser) -
So rather than the Vonn-couver Olympics, these Games will likely belong to the entire US delegation instead. The Americans reached 34 medals with a silver and a bronze in short-track speedskating last night, and clinched two more by advancing to gold medal matches—36, topping the US record of 34...
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Olympic hopeful Kevin Pearce has 'long recovery' ahead

(Newser) -
Doctors have upgraded Kevin Pearce’s condition from critical to serious and say the snowboarder is slowly regaining consciousness after a spill last week that left him with a traumatic brain injury. That’s “faster than anticipated,” one doctor says, but “he still has a long recovery...
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Kevin Pearce strikes his head during training

(Newser) -
One of the top US snowboarders was seriously injured today when he struck his head performing a risky maneuver in training. Kevin Pearce, a 22-year-old Vermont resident, will undergo a procedure in Utah to relieve pressure on his brain after he hit his head on the half pipe. Pearce, a...
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Olympian Torres rode copter over Hudson 2 days before crash

(Newser) -
Crews searching the Hudson River for the victims of Sunday's collision between a sightseeing helicopter and a small plane located an eighth body yesterday in the submerged plane but were unable to recover it, 1010 WINS radio reports. Rough water and silt impeded the efforts of divers, who suspended work...
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Gymnast Johnson claims the mirror ball to wrap up Season 8

(Newser) -
Shawn Johnson now has a Dancing With the Stars' mirror ball trophy to put alongside her Olympic medals, Extra reports. The gymnast—at 17, the youngest star to compete on the show—took first place along with dancing partner Mark Ballas, leaving Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke in second place,...
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Swimmer backs mom in NYC, up-ends bottle of Grey Goose

(Newser) -
Michael Phelps, well on his way to reclaiming his All-American image, was spotted at a New York hotspot “drinking straight from a bottle of Grey Goose,” a source tells the Daily News. At one point, “he got up, started dancing like a loon and kept on yelling,...
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